A Small Series of Royal Household Faithful Service Medals

An emotive Royal Household Faithful Service Medal awarded to George Batterbee, a Sandringham Estate worker and member of the famous “Vanished Battalion”, the 1/5th Norfolks - he was wounded on no less than five occasions in the Great War

Royal Household Faithful Service Medal, G.V.R., suspension dated ‘1910-1930’, with ‘Forty Years’ Bar, the reverse of which is officially inscribed ‘G.R. VI’ (Batterbee, George), good very fine and rare £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Small Series of Royal Household Faithful Service Medals.

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George Batterbee, a carpenter on the Sandringham Estate, was awarded the ‘Thirty Years’ Bar in 1940 and his ‘Forty Years’ Bar in 1950.

He was also a member of the famous “Vanished Battalion”, having in common with fellow Sandringham employees enlisted in the 1/5th Norfolk Regiment (Territorials), in his case in November 1912 - the War Service Roll of the Members of the Royal Households and Estates 1914-1918 also confirms that he collected no less than five wounds, one of them no doubt on the 12 August 1915, when, as reported by Sir Ian Hamilton in his official despatch, over 200 of the 1/5th Norfolks and “Sandringham Pals” all but disappeared - ‘they charged into the forest and were lost to sight and sound. Not one of them ever came back’.

Batterbee, who later served in Gaza and Palestine and was onetime a member of the 1st Garrison Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, was discharged in April 1919, aged 22 years, thereby confirming that he was 15 years of age at the time of his enlistment (his Silver War Badge entry refers).